Re: Running an App as Root
Re: Running an App as Root
- Subject: Re: Running an App as Root
- From: Chris Hanson <email@hidden>
- Date: Tue, 4 Nov 2003 20:45:39 -0600
On Nov 4, 2003, at 8:35 PM, David Blanton wrote:
Thanks for the solution.
What we need to do is 'silently' do some root stuff, i.e. Not present
the
Authentication Panel to accomplish our goals.
Don't. Seriously.
The authentication panel is *important*. Making sure users know that
something risky is going on is *important*.
The technique demonstrated by AuthSample and MoreAuthSample minimizes
the number of times the authentication panel comes up. In typical use,
the user should only see it once, the first time they try to perform an
action that requires authorization. Because the helper tool will
configure itself to be setuid-root (and will check the authorization ID
it's passed before performing any actions), subsequent runs of the tool
will no longer show the authorization panel.
Well see about flipping some bits somewhere.
Don't. Please. No end-user Cocoa application should *ever* ship
setuid-root, which is what it sounds like you want to do. Shipping an
application that way is a big security hole.
This is why I said it's extremely important to know exactly how
AuthSample and MoreAuthSample work before jumping into your own code.
Since you're talking about "flipping some bits somewhere" it looks like
you haven't taken the time to do that. (It looks like you just said
"Authorization dialog? No way! Let's just be setuid root then.")
Read and understand AuthSample and MoreAuthSample before you even
*think* of writing another line of code. Your users -- and their
security -- will thank you.
-- Chris
--
Chris Hanson, bDistributed.com, Inc. | Email: email@hidden
Outsourcing Vendor Evaluation | Phone: +1-847-372-3955
Custom Mac OS X Development | Fax: +1-847-589-3738
http://bdistributed.com/ | Personal Email: email@hidden
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